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This thread is a place were I can share and continually update pictures of any of my current gold finds, kind of like a gold diary of sorts. Sometimes I’ll include narrative other times it will be just pictures of what I found for the day. I get out detecting regularly and I use a lot of different equipment some of which is not open for discussion. This thread is NOT about equipment but about the gold I find as I find it. I will try to include pictures of the terrain so people can visualise what the areas look like where I‘m detecting. I would prefer if others do not post up pictures to this thread but ALL DP members are more than welcome to comment and ask questions about detecting related subjects, especially about targeting locations and mind sets and approach. It’s OK to relate to a post and talk about your own experiences, in fact I insist on it. That’s the whole point of a gold thread, to share my daily gold finds and talk with like minded people about how much fun it is to find gold. The Last couple of days detecting things have been a little slow as I revisit old haunts not visited for years. I’m targeting areas associated with old gold finds looking for indications of other nearby locations that are conducive to nuggets being present. The signs I’m looking for are gravels that are exposed at the surface, especially with pieces of ironstone in the mix, then working off the edges into the soil covered zones. Clermont does not have channeled gravels that were originally associated with creeks and rivers but instead has deltas of wash that spread away from the source becoming water worn in the process, this means you can have quiet large areas of deco clays with very little gravels then hit an area the size of a kitchen with good wash that contains gold, sometimes it can be associated with a weathered down localised quartz reef which has acted as a trap for mobile gravels or it will be made up entirely of gravelly wash that has moved on-mass and delta’d out in a fan shape. The trick is to find these areas hidden amongst the tree cover and fine surface soils that hide them. Quite often you will head downslope following the gold then hit a blank of deco that goes for 30 meters then the gravels will start up again. The trick is to try and push the boundaries until either a major drainage gobbles up the contents of the slope or the ground becomes barren. The hard part is to try and decide if the surface soils are laying over gold gravel or just deco with nothing underneath. JP Pics are of the last couple of days in two different locations. Day two

Chime in w/ Your deepest depth target and what detector and coil, and what the target turned out to be! Enjoy this "Mega Dig" w/ Big Payoff at the end of part2! Happy Holidays" from a balmy warm 33f Idaho . ? Ig

An interesting area because it was first discovered when large gold specimens were found on the surface. An outcrop was soon identified as the source, named Matrix Reef. It is located on the Berlin Goldfields, on a hill. A number of rich gullies run off the hill. No 0, No 1, No2, No 3 gullies, all rich and nuggety. Lots of detailed information available with a simple Google search. Again located in Australia in the state of Victoria.

Nice Couple" Good Times! Good Gold! ? Enjoy" Ig

Exciting Dig!?Cheers from 16f Idaho! Ig

Cheers" from 20f Idaho! Way to go Bill! ? Ig

The police found it! https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-police-find-rare-four-billion-year-old-meteorite-five-years-after-it-was-stolen-five-years-ago/29ef3c3a-bec6-4337-af84-31336bbfdc4d

Just back from our first prospecting trip after taking early retirement and moving to Kambalda in Western Australia . Did really well for a 5 week trip with 216 pieces for 376 grams. Biggest pieces 10, 11.5, 27 and 155 grams. No more working for the man ! Cheers, Rick https://youtu.be/jvZ3RyTN0Mo https://youtu.be/hvygdhqU_uQ https://youtu.be/yWINJjZdhp4 https://youtu.be/MODRP3GihW8

I found this of interest. The Murchison meteorite - Museums Victoria.pdf The 50th anniversary lecture ......LINK.....

Decided to hit the thick scrub again.

History stands corrected: Smith, not Hargraves, first to discover gold in NSW https://www.smh.com.au/national/history-stands-corrected-smith-not-hargraves-first-to-discover-gold-in-nsw-20200902-p55rtr.html

Out Bush with Jane and GH. Pulled up at spot. Turned on detector, tuned it in, walked 4 metres. Got a quiet iffy signal dug down out pops 5.7 gram nugget. Not 12 metres from the car. Couldn't believe it, didn't even video it. What a start to the day. By the end of the day still only the one bit.

I found these two in a long lost jar in the garage. The first has a slight show of silver plating. The last photo has me struck what it is, it has ton and gram and more on it. Anyone have a solution of its origin.

Hi everyone. Been having some fun with the Zed on the gold lately. Here's some Video's hope you enjoy.

I just had a look at this UTube they were in my type of ground.

Here in Victoria Aus. we are in a second wave lock down (COVID-19) for 6 weeks. So did some more tidying up the garage and found some old finds in a jar that I had left unsorted. One was a gold field token from Castlemaine 1859. Another was what I wanted to fill a blank in my shilling collection it was a 1910 I had one for the obverse with a poor date side. The last was a King George lV (4) 1824 shilling it was just about worn out and hard to identify.

Here is a project that is on gold in Victoria. It is an interesting read from the gold stand point as well as the offerings to come. https://www.newkerala.com/news/2020/102787.htm

This was posted over on the Jeep forum about some strange occurrences in the Australian bush and the mystery of the Button man, any of our gold hunters down under hear anything of the mystery of the Button man? https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/do-we-have-a-serial-killer-on-the-loose.35913/

So I have been watching some Parker's Trials and Aussie Gold Hunters.......... ? But on both shows now they say that if you "peg" a claim it is considered Pending and can be "prospected" (aka metal detected) by the public for about 8-12 months until it is no longer Pending. Is this really true? Do people peg to throw other prospectors off? Like send them on a wild goose chase? ? In the US I am sure that would not fly at all. I mean you do the work to find a good claim and then people can see on Tengraph where it is and go to town on it. There would be for sure some shooting going on. ? So as long as you have a Miner's Right, do a little research on gold bearing areas, find some Pending claims in those areas, then you are good to go? Is this how a lot of detectorists hunt in WA?

When circumstance allow, I like to go prospecting in Victoria's 'Golden Triangle', one of Australia's nugget hot spots. I use my beach machines, a Tdi Pro and a Tdi Sl Limited Edition. The Pro can be used for prospecting without any real issues, the Tdi Sl is more challenging in this environment. I'm going to focus on my experiences in hot ground, infested with ironstone, hot rocks and heavy mineralization. Not going to focus on depth, power or anything other than what it takes to get the machine to operate smoothly with the correct ground balance. The Pro machine has a hugh advantage, simply by vitue of that course and fine ground balance adjustments but this post is mostly about the Tdi SL. The single turn ground balance on the SL is a pain, it takes a bit of time to get it just right. When the ground is hot the SL requires me to use a smaller coil, mono being the best. Mono coils in my experience are quieter, more stable and much easier to ground balance. Larger folded mono coils, duel field coils and the newer and hotter spiral wound coils all suffer when the ground is very hot, they are noisy and difficult to ground balance with a Tdi Sl. The Tdi Sl with the stock 12 x 7 Miner John folded mono can be balanced but it will transmit more ground noise and be more difficult to ground balance when compared to using a smaller mono coil. Forgive me but I'm going to repeat myself a few times in this post. The smaller the coil the quieter the Tdi Sl will be and easier to ground balance, the reduced 'foot print' helps a lot. The very small 6 x 4 mini Jimmy coil is amazing in its ability to run smoothly and easily ground balance, but is too small to be practical most of the time. In comparison I can use larger mono coils on the Tdi Pro without issue, it has superior ground balancing ability on the goldfields. A Tdi Pro mounted with a 8x6 mono 'Sadie' is my standard setup. The Detech 15 x 10 or Digger 14 x 8 also see some use as does the new to me Detech 8 inch mono when using the Pro. So whilst the Tdi Sl likes the smaller mono coils on the goldfields the larger coils are not an option. Yes the ultimate Tdi Sl setup is a small mono coil and an upgraded 16v battery pack for prospecting. Super light weight and beautifully balanced, respectable performance and versatile. Fun to use for all, kids and older family enjoy the light weight and balance. Allow me to deviate for a moment. Tie me to an ants nest and smother me in honey for stating the obvious. Serious prospectors are better served by more specialised Minelab machines... they are superb. For me versatility is key at the moment and I feel better served by my White's Tdi Pro on the beach, that stealthy little Tdi Sl 'urban PI' is also a pleasure to use. When I invest in an expensive 4x4 and trailer some time in the future, then I'll make room for the more specialised gold machine. Hopefully by then Minelab with have a light weight and well balanced SDC type PI in a Tdi Sl style body. Maybe White's will surprise us all. Fisher is coming to the party also. I need PI peformance and light weight, good balance and sane pricing.. more options arriving as time goes on. Again my one piece of advice to anyone wanting to prospect using a Tdi SL in 'hot' ground, particularly in Australia, is this.. Use a small mono coil. Small duelfield coils like the older Jimmy, 7.5 duelfield, Miner John 7x5 folded mono or 6 inch folded mono coils, are all OK most of the time.. The Razorback 10 x 6 mono is great, the Coiltek Tdi series 6 inch mono is great, The Sadie is great. Keep it small and stick with mono and you should do well in all types of ground. The larger coils work well with the Tdi Sl in moderate soils and the beach. But when the ground goes bad it does pay to swap out for a small mono. Again this is my experience in hot Australian ground. Hot is hot and I suspect many international Tdi Sl users have the same experience in difficult ground. Not looking to pick any fights but this is my experience with the Tdi Sl. Go small, go mono and boost the battery pack. All the best.

In the hopes of continuing to keep things interesting I have some audio files I would like to share of the GPZ 7000. It will give you an idea of the incredibly subtle way the audio can respond to “iffy” targets. It is amazing how important the three senses are with metal detecting, sound, sight and touch.??? When you rely on one sense only I feel disjointed and disconnected. However the material has merit and will give detector operators an insight into what it is I’m looking for especially in regards to having a good range of motion. The target is gold, I put pictures of it up a few days ago. The image used in the video is an indication of the width of the swing used to manifest the target properly. The key is to listen through the unimportant information for the repeatable smooth rising and falling peak of the signal train hidden in the audio. Ignore the discordant dross, what I call the yammer, it is superfluous to the activity but necessary when you work the way I do. Detector is set up with conservative settings such as High Yield/Difficult, Sensitivity 9, Volume 8, Semi Auto GB when found then locked in Manual, Threshold 27, Threshold Pitch 40, Ground Smoothing OFF, Audio Smoothing OFF. Who can tell me at what Time Stamp the target signal starts?? JP

Hi all, Some post bush fire nugs from Gippsland, I went over an old patch just after the fires and before the beer virus lock down. The tree stumps were still smoking when I got these. The biggest is just over 1oz. It's amazing what can be missed with scrub all around.

This is an open thread for any good/bad Australian picture of gold or video adventure! Post away mates. Mitchel

I found this information informative and interesting. It shows some of the similarities and differences of Australian and U.S. laws and regulations. Have a good day, Chet